Details emerge in federal drug bust

MENDOCINO - More information has come out about the federal drug indictments of over 40 individuals, including three named Mendocino County residents.

Jim Cross, a public information officer at the Wichita, Kansas bureau of the U.S. Attorneys Office, said Mendocino resident Jeffrey Wall is listed as defendant No. 42 in what he called "a long, complicated drug indictment" filed by the DEA in June. According to Cross, Wall is charged in count one with conspiracy to distribute cocaine and marijuana.

"The 101-count indictment alleges that defendants Los Rovell Dahda, 30, Lawrence, Kan., and Chad Eugene Bauman, 33, Lawrence, made millions as the leaders of a drug trafficking organization that operated from 2005 to 2012. Prosecutors are asking a federal judge to order more than $16.9 million in cash and real estate that were proceeds of the crimes to be forfeited to the government," said a U.S. Attorneys report filed in July. "The indictment grows out of a federal criminal complaint filed (in June) in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kan. The indictment adds 10 defendants and 100 counts. In the initial complaint, prosecutors alleged the organization's primary method for getting drugs to Kansas from California was by commercial carrier."

James Michael Soderling, 42, of Fort Bragg, is said to have been indicted on 14 various counts and Sarah Soderling, 35, also of Fort Bragg, was indicted on 34 counts in July. A second, more recent, round of arrests was made but was not publicly reported since the case had been sealed by the courts, Cross explained. Agents from many state and federal agencies took part in the effort, with minimal assistance from Mendocino County Sheriff's Office. A full report is pending.